1. Field
The present invention generally relates to a device for rotating a transducer provided in an ultrasonic probe for use with an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus.
2. Background
An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus is widely used to diagnose a subject by visualizing a portion of the subject's body. For example, the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus diagnoses a subject by detecting alien substances of organs, measuring the level of a lesion, or observing a tumor or a fetus. Such an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus generally employs various ultrasonic probes to obtain information on a subject's body. The ultrasonic probe has a transducer, which emits ultrasonic waves into an inspection portion of a subject and receives the reflected ultrasonic waves therefrom to convert the reflected ultrasonic waves into electric signals. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus processes the electric signals from the ultrasonic probe, thereby forming ultrasonic images that show the inspection portion of the subject's body. In the recent years, an ultrasonic probe configured to rotate the transducer is used to obtain more accurate or three-dimensional ultrasonic images.
One example of a prior art ultrasonic probe for obtaining a three-dimensional image is described in Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2006-76026 (published on Jul. 4, 2006).
Hereinafter, the prior art device for rotating the transducer of an ultrasonic probe for obtaining a three-dimensional image will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4.
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the prior art device for rotating the transducer of an ultrasonic probe includes the following: a step motor 110 having a rotating shaft; a drive pulley 120 coupled to the rotating shaft of the step motor 110; a driven pulley 140; a belt 130 transmitting the drive force from the drive pulley 120 to the driven pulley 140; a driven shaft 141 coupled to the driven pulley 140; a wire-rope holder 150 coupled to the driven shaft 141; a transducer 170 having a rotating shaft 174; and a pair of wire-ropes with one ends fixed to the wire-rope holder 150 and other ends coupled to the transducer 170 for rotating the transducer 170 by drive force from the step motor 110.
As shown in FIG. 4, the wire-rope holder 150 has a buffer spring 151, both ends of which can be deformed as 151a or 151b by means of a tension force of the wire-rope 160.
Referring to FIGS. 3 and 4, the wire-rope 160 is knotted at an end of the buffer spring 151. The wire-rope 160 has a coupler 162 at the other end. The transducer 170 includes a wire-rope guide 172 having a slit 173. The wire-rope 160 is inserted into the slit 173 and the coupler 162 is fixed to the slit 173.
Thus, if the step motor 110 rotates the drive pulley 120, then the drive pulley 120 rotates the driven pulley 140 and the driven shaft 141. Then, the wire-rope holder 150 coupled to the driven shaft 141 is rotated. The rotation of the wire-rope holder 150 forms a tension to one of the wire-ropes for rotating the transducer 170.
The step motor 110 rotates to the right and reverses repeatedly. The wire-rope holder 150 has a means for buffering the shock by means of the repetitive right and reversal revolution of the step motor 110. The wire-rope holder 150 has many parts. Thus, there is a problem with the prior art device for rotating the transducer of an ultrasonic probe since the manufacturing process of such a device is quite complex.
Further, the driven shaft occupies a large area in the probe case. Accordingly, there is a further problem with the prior art device in that the total size of an ultrasonic probe may be quite large.
Consequently, there is a need to provide a device for rotating the transducer of an ultrasonic probe, which has a simple manufacturing process as well as a small size.